Bile Baloo, Chapter one
Chapter one of Bile Baloo. Plot Baloo starts to wake up from a voice calling him. "Hey, hey you, you okay mister?" it said and Baloo jolts awake, finding himself in a dark room with a bunch of bears looking at him: there were more sloth bears like him, plus sun bears, Asiatic black bears and Himalayan brown bears, which he was familiar with, but there were also species from outside of India: grizzly, spectacled, polar and more, "you okay?" the voice repeated and Baloo fallowed it downward, where he sees a young male sloth-bear cub like him, except looks to be around twelve in human-years, is about half of Baloo's size and fluffier, especially on the head, giving him a hairstyle similar to a male human-child, plus a v-shaped yellow marking on his chest, but what stood out the most was that he wore a metal-collar around his muzzle, and a rope tied to it that goes through a gap on top and out a nostril, not to mention looking severely underfed and covered with bruises all over, "what is this place?" he asks drawing the other bears over, "this your prison now" said a male polar bear, "we've all been taken by wretched humans, either to be enslaved as street-performers like this little guy, or imprisoned in this bile-farm to have our gallbladders milked, and occasionally some body-parts taken for souvenirs" said a female sloth-bear with a female cub on her back, "bile farm!?" Baloo gasps, "yep, doomed to be painfully milked until you die" said a male spectacled bear, "but what about you?" Baloo asks the boy cub, "me, all I know is I've been living the life of a dancing bear as far as I can remember" it explains, "oh no, I've heard stories about all of this and that, where are your parents uh..." Baloo says, "I'm Kit, and as for my parents, well the humans here took me from my parents, murdered them, and turned me into this" the cub, Kit, explains angrily shaking the leash and ends up whipping Baloo in the crotch, much to his agony, "oh sorry" Kit apologizes, "I'll be fine" Baloo wheezed clutching his crotch, "I've been fostering him recently" said the female sloth bear who was slightly skinnier than Baloo, but similar to the collared cub, "and you are?" Baloo asks, "call me Rebecca, and this here is my daughter Molly" she introduces when the door opens and in walks in a man Baloo never thought he'd see again, "I see you're awake" he says which turned out to be none other than..."Ganshum!?" Baloo gasps, and yes it was Ganshum: the kid who bullied Mowgli and Jumeirah, now full grown, "you know him?" Kit notes, "somewhat" Baloo admits, "better make yourself comfortable Baloo, 'cause you'll be staying here for a long time" Ganshum taunts before leaving, making Baloo growl, "your name's Baloo?" asked the female sloth-bear cub Molly, who wasn't as shaggy as her mother or Kit (but still more than Baloo), in fact she was the same color as Baloo, but with the chest-mark, "yeah that's my name" Baloo admits, "you and that human clearly have a history" Rebecca noted, eliciting the curiosity of the other bears, "well he was mainly an enemy of a friend of mine: the wolf-boy Mowgli" Baloo making everyone gasp, "wait the Mowgli? you met him?" Rebecca asks, "met him, I was his teacher actually, I taught him just about everything there is to know about the wilderness" Baloo reveals, "oh man, if there is ever a good human, he's definitely the one" Molly swoons, "pft only in your imagination" said a rather sour-looking male Asian black bear, "you think I'm lying?" Baloo demanded in offense, "oh that's just Carth, a real negative sad-sack who has no sense of hope" Rebecca dismisses, "only because hope brought me nothing but disappointment and heart-break, so I'm not praying out for fairytales like this Mowgli" Carth adds, "he's not a fairytale, he's as real as you are, even that human Ganshum knows him and met him" Baloo counters, "so even that human thinks he's real? even if he is, what makes you think he's any different than these?" Carth challenges, "because I know him personally" Baloo yells, "sounds like they gave you way too much sedative" Carth dismisses making Baloo face-palm: this bear was like Sandah, "well I believe him" Kit defends much to Baloo's surprise, "sure, go ahead kid, just don't say I didn't warn you when you wake up and find yourself continuing to live your own nightmare" Carth shrugs and walks off to the far end of the room, "he sure has issues" Baloo remarks, "can't say I blame him though: he said he's seen milked bears actually die from the extractions since the day he was brought in, and I can relate: I lost my mate to that" Rebecca reveals, "oh I'm so sorry" Baloo condoles, "will Mowgli come save us Baloo?" Molly asks, "I am sure he will" Baloo maintains, he was sure Mowgli was looking right now. At the pond with the tree-island, Alexander was sitting by depressed, constantly thinking about Baloo. Sandah arrives out of concern. "Hey" he greets, "hey" Alex returns with not much enthusiasm, "Baloo's like an uncle to you isn't he?" Sandah guesses, "yeah, he was always fun to be around, I remember how he and dad taught me how to swim" Alex reminisces. Flashback A six-year-old Alex was looking at the lake near the village with a bit of fear, while his dad and other animals were enjoying the water. "Come on Alex it isn't so bad once you get the hang of it" Sura encourages, though Alex was still afraid, "here, let's try this" Mowgli proposes and takes his vest off, then gently picks up Alex and has him dip his feet in the water, "it's cold" he complains, "I know, but that's only because you don't have any fur to keep you warm, I had to just tough it out" Mowgli says and puts Alex in the shallowest part of the water where only his feet were submerged, "just go in slowly, get used to it first" Mowgli instructs and Alex does: Mowgli had gone to the middle part of the water where he could fully submerge and Alex copies him, and though it made him shiver a bit, he kept going until he could feel it up to his neck and how lightweight he was feeling in it, without even being told how to, he paddles over to Mowgli, "wow, you even already figured out how to swim properly" he praised, "I did?" Alex asks, "yeah, just by kicking your feet and waving your arms" Lala notes as Mowgli allows Alex to do it again and he paddles all the way to Baloo, "wow Alex, I can see you're as good as your dad" the bear cheers raising Alex in the air before settling on his back and placing Alex on his belly, which Alex noticed felt less hairy than the rest of Baloo, "hey Baloo why is your tummy smooth and not fuzzy?" Alex asks feeling over it, which Baloo found nice, "well it's to help my species cool off in the heat, though other bears do have hairy bellies" Baloo happily answers, and Alex continued to feel over Baloo's belly at how cool to the touch it was, but in doing so unknowingly stuck his thumbs in Baloo's bellybutton, "hey you have a bellybutton like me" he gasps and starts playing with it, which tickled Baloo, "oh no you...found my...weakness...besides honey..." Baloo laughs uncontrollably as Alex continues to mercilessly play with the bear's navel, the others found it entertaining until eventually deciding to have mercy and Hathi plucks Alex off Baloo and hands him back to Mowgli, "okay I think that's enough, don't wanna give your uncle Baloo a heart attack" he reprimands, "I thought only us humans had bellybuttons dad" Alex says, "I was surprised too when I found out" Mowgli admits, "and nope, all animals have one, even us wolves" Akru informs, "you just can't see ours because they're hidden under our fur" Maki adds, "yeah it often takes me a while to find mine" Kichi admits while fingering his own belly, "speaking of bellybuttons I see someone else has one" Baloo jokes, "where?" Alex wonders looking around, "right here" Baloo says and pokes a claw in Alex's navel, making him laugh, "hey stop it" he begs as everyone else laugh. Flashback ends Sandah smiles at the memory, he found it funny how Alex and Baloo got into a navel-war, as evident by his giggles. "Laugh it up fuzz-ball" Alex teases, "honestly, I didn't know bears had bellybuttons either, I always wondered why sloth bear bellies were bare" Sandah says before calming down, "and I can see why you're worried" he added more seriously, "yeah" Alex whispers, "don't worry Alex, Baloo's been through worse" Bagheera's voice suddenly echoes and they see he was in a tree, and he comes down, "oh hey Bagheera" Alex greets, "I know you were really looking forward to see what Baloo's class was gonna be, fortunately I've found another" Bagheera reveals and an Indian flapshell turtle suddenly crawls over from the pond, "and that's me" it says revealing itself to be male, "hey Oo" Bagheera greets, "a turtle?" Alex asks, "I'll have you know I have knowledge just as big as Baloo's" Oo states, "well you won't happen to know why humans would do something so evil to a bear like Baloo would you?" Alex asks, "I'm afraid not, only Bagheera would know, but I have seen sloth bears in particular be the prime suspects of dancing, they're also hunted for their claws and bacula" Oo explains, "claws and what?" Alex asks, "bacula: it's a bone the male bears have in their penises" Oo answers making Alex blush, Bagheera and Sandah scold the turtle for it, "a little too much information" Sandah chastises, "oh sorry, I forgot he still hasn't reached sex-" Oo began before Bagheera cuts him off, "alright we get it" he interrupts when Alex suddenly stands up with a determined face, "that's it I'm not waiting around anymore, I'm going after dad" he suddenly declares much to the three animals' alarm and runs off. Stay tuned for Bile Baloo, Chapter two Notes *The bear characters Kit Rebecca and Molly are based on Kit Cloudkicker, Rebecca Cunningham and Molly Cunningham from the Disney-version's spin-off TV-show Talespin, except all three are humanoid grizzly-bears there. I decided to make them normal-looking sloth bears here. Also I altered Rebecca's widowing to being done by the bile-trade, and Kit's orphaning to be enslaved as a dancing bear. **The bile-trade is the farming of bears for the liquid known as bile which can be found in a bear's gallbladder. The liquid is believed to have medicinal value, but this is largely untrue, and extraction is no less pleasant: tubes get thrust into bears' torsos harshly and painfully, sometimes it is done so badly it can kill the bear. The Asiatic black bear is the most popular target, but all other known bear species except giant pandas are also sought after. **Sloth bears are a popular target for dancing-entertainment: here cubs around a few months old (usually 4-6 months) are kidnapped (with the mothers killed), get their teeth and claws gruesomely removed (stuff like hammers are used), their muzzles drilled on the top by a red-hot iron rod, and a rope slit into the wound from the nostril. Some cubs die from the ordeal, those that don't are simply made to dance from pain, and would sometimes be beaten up and starved into obedience. The trainers, often called kalanders, aren't really evil, just poor: they rely on performing animals (not just bears) to get money and avoid becoming hoboes (though many have found alternative-jobs). *I apologize if I've grossed you out, but it's a real thing: bears have bones in their genitals (mainly penises) known as a baculum, and it is not just bears that have them, other carnivorans (cats dogs and seals), bats, rodents, primates (except humans), shrews and hedgehogs do too. *Oo is a turtle from the original stories. Gallery Category:Fanfiction